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Itlilitdry Order of m Coyal Cedion 

of the 

United States 



Commatidery of tbe District of Columbia 




Tn memoriaiii : 



eonpanlon 



miiliaiti nicKiniey 



President of tbe anited States 



I 



MILITARY ORDER OF THE LOYAL LEGION 

OF THE 

UNITED STATES 



Commandery of the District of Columbia 



STATED MEETING OF NOVEMBER 6, 190! 



IN memoriam: 
Companion WILLIAM IVIcKINLEY 

BREVET MAJOR U. S. VOLUNTEERS 



"=^ MILITARY ORDER OF THE LOYAL LEGION OF THE UNITED STATES, 

.. Commandery of the District of Columbia. 



Headquarters, City of Washington, 

November 6, 1901. 

I. A Stated Meeting was held in this City, this date. 

II. When called to order the Commander directed that Commandery-in- 
Chief Circular No. 10, current series, dated September 14, ultimo, viz : 

" Military Obder of the Loyal Legion of the United States, 
Commandeet-in-Chiei". 

ClBOTJLAE No. 10.) 

Series of 1901. /- Philadelphia, September 14, 1901. 

Whole No. 166. ) 

I. The Commander-in-Chief announces with feelings of the deepest sor- 
row that the President of the United States, Companion Major William Mc- 
KiNLET, was assassinated at Buffalo, N. Y., on September 6, 1901, and died 
at Buffalo, N. Y., September 14, 1901. 

II. Appropriate action, expressive of the nation's great loss and of our 
bereavement, will be taken by the Commanderies of the Order at the first 
meeting after the receipt of this Circular. 

III. The Colors of the Commanderies will be draped for a period of 
ninety days. 

By command of 

Lieut. -General John M. Schofield, U. S. A., 

Commander -in- Chief. 

John P. Nicholson, 

Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel, U. S. V., 

Mecorder- in- Chief. 

Official. 

John P. Nicholson, 

Eecorder-in-Chief." 

be read for the information and governance of the Commandery, and upon 
the reading thereof it was ordered that the proceedings of the Meeting be 
solely "InMemoriam" the distinguished dead. 

III. Said proceedings are herewith published. 

By command of 

Brevet Brigadier-General Ellis Speab, U. S. Volunteers, 

Commander. 

W. p. HUXFOED, 

Brevet-Major U. S. Army, 
Recorder 



prater 

Chaplain James H. Bradford. 

Our Father in Heaven, we come to thank Thee 
to-night for that life which is so precious to us ; life 
which goes out so suddenly, and sometimes so un- 
expectedly; life which enables us to go on our way 
and enjoy the things which are about us. We do 
not protect ourselves; it is Thy hand which is over 
us and about us ; Thou dost shield us and protect us. 
We thank Thee for life. We thank Thee to-night for 
lives of noble men who are an inspiration to us ; who, 
charged with great responsibility, have unselfishly 
wrought for the welfare of this nation and the world. 

We pray for Thy blessing; we pray that Thy 
blessing may come upon all the members of this 
Commandery, and our Companions, over the land and 
through the world, wherevei" they may be ; we pray 
Thee for them, and ask that Thou wilt guide and 
protect them, and be their shield in danger, and keep 
them from the evil that is in the world. 

We pray for our nation. We thank Thee for the 
multitude of blessings which have come to us, all the 
way down since our fathers first came to this country. 



6 

and we thank Thee for Thy great mercy and favor 
which came upon us recently, when Thou didst lay 
Thy mighty hand upon us, when Thou didst make us 
to triumph; we thank Thee that thou didst not 
forget us. We desire to thank Thee, and pray for 
Thy blessing upon all parts of this great land ; upon 
all who dwell under our flag from ocean to ocean, and 
in the islands of the sea. Let Thy blessing rest, O 
Lord, on him who has been so suddenly and unexpect- 
edly called to that highest position of all in our nation ; 
give him wisdom and strength, help him and guide 
him in all those duties which rest upon him. 

Help her, O Lord, who has been so suddenly and 
sorely stricken in the loss of the one she loved most 
above all others in this life. Be very gracious and 
kind to her. 

We pray for our comrades, for those who are suffer- 
ing, by reason of those who have been gathered into 
Eternity since last we met together. 

We give ourselves to Thee to-night. Grant that the 
words spoken here may make an impression upon us, 
upon our hearts and minds, so that when we go 
forth from this hall we may be glad that we dwell in 
this great land. 

We pray Thee for such blessings upon all our people. 



upon ourselves and those dear to us, as seem proper 
to Thee, saying : 

" Our Father which art in heaven, HaUowed 
be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be 
done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day 
our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we 
forgive our debtors. And lead us not into tempta- 
tion, but deliver us from evil : For thine is the 
kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. 
Amen." 

"Nearer, my God, to Thee "—(Quartette.) 



A Committee appointed by the Commander pre- 
sented the following 

flDemodaL 



The Commandeiy of the District of Columbia, Mili- 
tary Order of the Loyal Legion, animated by a feel- 
ing of profound veneration for the high character of 
our late Companion, William McKinley, the Presi- 
dent of the United States, and of pride in his devotion 
of a lifetime to the best interests of his native land, 
unite with all patriotic citizens of our country, and 
people of all lands, in deploring his untimely death. 

Companion William McKinley was born in the 
town of Niles, Trumbull County, Ohio, January 29, 
1843. His education was received in the public 
schools of his native State, supplemented by a term in 
the Poland Academy, and one at Alleghany College. 
He enlisted in the 23d Ohio Volunteer Infantry as a 
private soldier on the 11th day of June, 1861, in his 
nineteenth year; was promoted successively to Ser- 
geant, Second Lieutenant, First Lieutenant, and Cap- 
tain, and served on the staffs of Generals Hayes, 



10 



Crook, and Hancock. He was brevetted Major for gal- 
lantry in action b)^ President Lincoln in March, 1865. 

After his muster-out in July following, he took up 
the study of law, and w\«.s admitted to ]3ractice at the 
bar in 1867. He was elected to Congress in 1876, and 
served for fourteen years as a member of that body, 
becoming famous as the Chairman of the Committee 
on Ways and Means. He was elected Governor of 
Ohio in 1891, and re-elected in 189:^; elected Presi- 
dent of the United States in 1896, and triumphantly 
re-elected in 1900. His life as President w^as but a 
continuation of his life in Congress and in the guber- 
natorial chair of the State of Ohio — virtuous, amiable, 
and exemplary — true, strong, and brave. He ])ecame 
a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion 
on Marcli 7, 1883, through this Commandery. 

The President was the most devoted of sons and 
husbands; his affection for mother and wife was 
unfeigned, constant, and gentle; he was a living 
example of all that was possible in domestic life. 
Stricken down by the hand of a morbid assassin in the 
fulness of life ; ushered into the presence of death, he 
did not falter ; his thought was not for himself, but 
for his wife. " See that no exaggerated i-eport reaches 
her," were the first words he uttered ; tlnn, with the 



11 



courage that always distinguished liim, he at once sub- 
mitted to the surgeon's knife. His trust being in God, 
he was sanguine almost to the last ; but as the end 
drew neai-, he realized the inevitable ; he expressed no 
word of vengeance upon the assassin, nor exhibited 
the least desire for his punishment. The nation, the 
whole civilized world, was shocked, but the President's 
soul was unshaken. 

His many acts of kindness and generosity, his ten- 
der consideration for others, have endeared him to. all ; 
his many acts of wisdom have left their impress upon 
the pages of American history ; his conduct through 
his entire life will ever be a shining example for his 
countrymen. Bright recollections of him are left 
behind, and, though dead, he will live in the memories 
of his countrymen as long as the Republic endures. 

In the death of this great and good man, the nation 
mourns the loss of a Chief Magistrate whose just sway 
had endeared him to the whole people, whose broad 
statesmanship and large views of national and interna- 
tional issues had won for him the respect and admiration 
of the civilized world ; and whose Christian character, 
pure life, and devotion to duty gave to all men an ex- 
ample worthy in the highest degree of their emulation. 

To us, his companions in the Military Order of the 



12 



Loyal Legion, especially as members of the Comman- 
dery through which he was admitted to the Order, his 
tragic death was fraught with peculiar poignancy. 
We mourn him, not only as the revered Commander- 
in-Chief of the Army and Navy, but more particularly 
as a sharer with us in the trials and triumphs of the 
great struggle which secured to us and to our posterity 
the blessings of a united country. 

While our hearts are bowed down in sorrow that one 
whose earthly career, patterned upon the loftiest ideals 
of human greatness, and made notable by patriotic 
achievement, has suddenly been cut down in the prime 
of his usefulness, we are humiliated by the fact that there 
are dwelling among us, as citizens of our beloved country, 
men who applaud the terrible deed of the assassin. 

And while we unite in an earnest protest against the 
license given to anarchistic editors and lecturers to 
utter seditious and treasonable sentiments under covei* 
of a strained construction of a clause in the Constitu- 
tion of the United States guaranteeing free speech and 
a free press, we, with equal earnestness, urge upon the 
commonwealths of the country the importance of 
incorporating in the cui-riculum of common school edu- 
cation such text-books as shall inculcate lessons of 
patriotism, thereby training the youth of the land to 



13 



view with horror and detestation the crime of assassi- 
nation. 

In the death of Companion William McKinley, we, 
the members of this Commandeiy, mourn the loss of 
an honorable member of our Order, whose well-bal- 
anced mind and lofty character commends itself alike 
to the soldier, the statesman, the husband, and the 
Christian, as an example worthy of emulation. 

To her who was the light of President McKinley's 
young manhood and ever the object of his ten- 
derest care and solicitude we proffer our sincerest sym- 
pathy, commending her to the loving kindness of 
Him who, alone, in this transitory life, can succor 
and comfort those who mourn. 

Tender hands have laid him in his honored grave. 
A stricken nation has placed its laurels upon his bier, 
and offered to the desolate widow, who loved him, 
their deepest sympathy, in which we reverently join. 

"It is God's way; His will be done." 

George A. Woodward, 

Colonel, U. S, A., 

George W. Baird, 

Co^nmander, U. S. N., 

Gilbert C. Kniffin, 

Lieutenant-Colonel, U. S. V., 
Committee. 



Hbbresses 

in consonance with the foregoing Memorial were made 
by Companions, called upon by the Commander, as 
follows : 

Companions, I hardly expected to be called so 
early to address you this evening, and I confess that 
I am not as well prepai'ed as I would like to be. 

I do not know what preparation would be suitable or 
fitting, unless it should be that which belongs to a 
great poet and a great orator, neither of which I am. 
As time passes, in my judgment the estimate of William 
McKinley, great as it is now the world over, will rise 
higher and higher. I am just youthful enough to 
think that it is the noblest character in all history. 
He was three years a soldier — his record is good ; he 
was about fifteen years a Representative in Congress — 
he rapidly became one of the most useful and valuable 
men in that Congress. Ohio understood him, and kept 
him its Grovernor for four years ; he had been a Presi- 
dent four years and seven months — a term of public 
service amounting in all to twenty-six years and seven 
months. 



15 



There is no criticism, there is not a nimor nor a 
whisper that he was a bad boy. He must have 
begun life a good boy — an obedient, faithful, studi- 
ous, loving son. 

He made a most honorable record as a soldier. Of 
course he had not time to rise to great rank, but such 
rank as he had he honored. He made an able and 
honorable record as a member of Congress. He was a 
peculiar man in some respects. If ever a man loved 
all the world it was William McKinley. He had not 
an ill feeling, not an unkind feeling, towards any 
human being. His heart went out towards the wel- 
fare of all, towards dealing in love and justice with 
all men. He loved all mankind, and at his death the 
world showed that it loved him. There is nothing 
like it in history — the universal gush of affection, 
respect and love that came, strange to say, from all 
civilized nations, and even from some that made not 
much claim to civilization. The whole world seemed 
to understand him. That was what surprised me — to 
find that his general character was so well known 
everywhere. I suppose that the journals of all the 
world, who were well excellently equipped, immedi- 
ately spread that knowledge before their peoples, and 
the authorities of all the nations of any consequence 



16 



hastened to tender to us their hearty, loving sympathy, 
their profound regret, and their condemnation of the 
awful wickedness of his taking oif . Was there ever 
anything like it ? Was there ever a man who could 
win that affection and all these testimonials until 
McKinley came out upon the world ? I do not know 
of any. I do not know a man in history. It is almost 
divine. 

Over all the world, if we may judge by what we read 
in the newspapers and the correspondence everywhere, 
the world spoke of him with moistened eyes and 
quivering lips. I had the honor to be on the funeral 
train that brought his remains from Buffalo to Wash- 
ington. If I might live a thousand years I could 
never forget the journey. The casket was placed high 
enough in the funeral car to let the people simply 
have a chance to see it through the plate-glass win- 
dows. From the start the road was lined with people. 
I do not know how many thousands and hundreds of 
thousands of the people of Pennsylvania were by the 
side of the road to look at him. From every shop of 
whatever kind, foundry or whatever else, the dusty 
men streamed out as our train approached, and, of 
course, without an order, without a suggestion or a 
sign from anybody, they all lined up by the side of 



17 



the road, took oif their hats, and saluted with pro- 
found reverence ; and where there were no shops or 
factories, or where there was no village, the farmers 
and their wives and their children aligned themselves 
along the road. The sight was one never, never to be 
forgotten. And when we came to the larger city of 
Harrisburg, I did not know before that so many 
people lived in the county, or in half the State. The 
same scenes were repeated, the same manifestations 
of sorrow. And, besides the men coming out the 
mothers were there, and the sisters, and the daughters 
were there, and little children — the little children three 
and four years old — were there, and I know that 
if they recollect anything they will never forget it. 
They got up close to their mothers' knees and 
stood as the procession went by, with as much of an 
air as if they had been fifty years old. 

And when we came to Washington, you know, 
many of you, what the appearance of the great avenue, 
Pennsylvania Avenue, is; and there, again, men, 
women and children came out from every large street 
and from every by-street, and stood in a drizzling rain ; 
the little children, as I remember very well, huddling 
up between their mother's knees, getting a trifle 
of shelter from an umbrella. All these things, wher- 



18 



ever there was an opportunity for a demonstration, 
showed a profound love of William McKinley. One 
of the signal demonstrations of the time was the 
request that at 3.30, the hour of the obsequies out at 
Canton, all business should stop. To the best of my 
knowledge and belief it was carried out. The street 
cars stopped; the steam cars stopped; everything, I 
am told, even in the large cities, in the way of pleasure 
and business, ceased instantly for five minutes; and 
hats were off, heads were bowed, eyes were wet. Did 
the world ever see or hear of anything like that ? All 
men who love their mothers and their wives loved him — 
a devoted son, a devoted husband, a devoted father. 
It is almost a reflection upon McKinley to think it 
necessary to say — it is not necessary to say — that he 
was an incorruptible, absolutely honest and honorable 
gentleman from his earliest days. He was a singular 
man in some respects. He had less of anger, less of 
temper in his character, than any man I ever saw. 
Of course, in the period of twelve or fifteen years in 
which I was acquainted with him, I had often occasion 
CO see him, and especially after he became President. 
It was my duty to go, as Chairman of the Military 
Committee, often into his office in the White House, 
and I am happy to say that I had the pleasure of 



19 



meeting him elsewhere a good mauy times. 1 pledge 
you my word that I never saw upon his face an unpleas- 
ant expression — I will not say an angry one, a dis- 
agreeable one — but that face was everlastingly sweet, 
calm, gentle, patient. I never saw any man like that. 
And the taking off, the ending of all this, was 
absolutely glorious. " Good-bye, all ! good-bye ! It is 
God's way. His will be done." And the same way 
with his other expressions reported ; they are wonder- 
ful; and from a man suffering as he suffered, and 
leaving a wife and those dear to him, they come with 
a force splendidly dramatic, and undoubtedly unpre- 
meditated, and make utterances that the greatest 
man in the world could not have surpassed if he 
had studied and prepared himself. How deliciously 
sweet those last hours and minutes were. It 
makes us love and value human nature. It is a 
glory to mankind that such a man lived, and while 
our loss is, in some respects, irreparable and an evil, 
yet we have a right to be splendidly proud that 
America gave birth to him, and to thank God that he 
gave the world the example which McKinley's life has 
set. His story must be told ; the words must be writ- 
ten, as the great sculptor would make a statue; the 
ablest hands must so set him forth in our literature 



20 



that all the youth of the United States may see, and 
I want all the hoys and all the young men to study 
the life of William McKinley, for the glory of the 
country. It will be an education to them. It will be 
a satisfaction to us, to the older fellows among us who 
are about to go away, to know that we are leaving the 
example of a man so glorious. 

I could go on and talk in a general way for a con- 
siderable time, but I know that this meeting expects 
only short seasons of remark, and renewing assurances 
of my profound — well, I might say — worship of Will- 
iam McKinley, I leave the subject to others. 



mmtl ^earp ^. ^Jt^aoaward, 1. J*, g^. 

Commander and Companions: I consider it a 
privilege to share in these services in honor of 
our late President, William McKinley, whose recent 
death at the hands of an anarchistic assassin 
was a shock not alone to our country, but to 
the civilized world. . Of his character as statesman 
and Chief Magistrate I shall leave to others better 
fitted than I am to speak. I desire to advert very 
briefly to one or two of the lessons which I think this 
deplorable event should impress upon our minds. 
And first, as to anarchy and anarchists. While it 
is true that the slayer of President McKinley was 
American born and American bred, it is no less true 
that he learned the detestable doctrines which led to 
his crime at the feet of imported anarchists. It is 
time that we called a halt to the immigration of these 
propagators of moral and social chaos, for chaos it is, 
the utter abrogation of law and order and the destruc- 
tion of the fair fabric of our civilization, of which 
these are the corner-stones, that the anarchist would 
bring about. Well may we exclaim in the strong and 
beautiful words of Thomas Bailey Aldrich : 



22 



O Liberty, white goddess 1 is it well 
To leave the gates unguarded ? On thy breast 
Fold Sorrow's children, soothe the hurts of fate. 
Lift the downtrodden ; but with hand of steel 
Stay those who to thy sacred portals come 
To waste the gifts of freedom. Have a care 
Lest from thy brow the clustered stars be torn 
And trampled in the dust. 

And not only must we exclude anarchists propos- 
ing to enter the country, but we must get rid of those 
we have. It may be a nice question to determine 
how, but I believe that we can arouse and cultivate a 
sentiment among our people which shall operate as a 
boycott upon these pestiferous scoundrels. We can 
and ought to cultivate a public opinion which shall 
forbid respectable American citizens from employing 
anarchists, or patronizing in any way the man who 
does employ them. We should also take more pains 
to instil into our children's minds a reverence for law 
and order, and a horror of everything that militates 
against them. 

Another of the lessons which this event teaches us 
is that times of prosperity, so far from being exempt 
from ])eril to those in high places, are, on the con- 
trary, the very times Avhen \\'e should be most on the 
alert to guard our public servants from the danger of 
assassination. There is always that "submerged 



23 



tenth " who, by fault of their own, or by force of cir- 
cumstances, have never shared and will never share in 
national prosperity, however widely it may seem 
to be diffused, and who by that very fact are more 
to be feared in such times than when times are harder. 
They see around them the evidences of a prosperity in 
which they have no part, and hear the note of jubila- 
tion which has no echo in their lives, and to their 
chronic discontent is added envy, to which succeed 
hatred and malice, a combination that spells murder. 
Turning for a moment to the contemplation of 
McKinley as a man, it may be said that he was an ideal 
American. Born amid humble surroundings, with no 
adventitious aids to fortune, with only such ad- 
vantages of education as are within reach of every 
American boy, he boldly faced the problems of life, 
and by sheer force of character and intellect rose step 
by step, gravitating ever upwards, until he reached 
the topmost height of human eminence. Conscious of 
his powers he was naturally and properly ambitious, 
but he was never over-elated by success or unduly 
cast down by .misfortune. We of Washington, per- 
haps better than others elsewhere, know how modestly 
he bore himself in his great office, how unassuming 
was his demeanor on all occasions, and how exemplary 
his private life. 



24 



His end became him no less than had his career in life; 
contemplating it we are moved to admiration of 
the great qualities that it brought out. How Christ- 
like was the spirit of his injunction to those around 
him to do no harm to the wretch who had dealt him 
his death-wound ; how characteristic was his loving 
thoughtf ulness for his invalid wife ; how consistent 
with his life's practice his Christian submission to the 
will of God ; and last scene of all, how bravely he met 
the king of terrors, realizing to the full those lines of 
Bryant in his Thanatopsis : 

* * * Wlien thy summons comes to join 
The innumerable cam van that moves 

To the pale realms of shade, where each shall take 
His chamber in the silent halls of death, 

* ♦ * go not like the quarry slave at night, 
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed 
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave 

Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams. 

" I Cannot Always Trace the Way "—(Quartette). 



I am very glad indeed to be able to unite with the 
Companions of this Commandery, to which I belong, 
in paying a tribute of respect and affection to 
our great-hearted, kind-hearted Companion, William 
McKinley. His noble qualities are well known not 
only to his companions and fellow-citizens, but, as 
Companion Hawley has said, to all the civilized 
world. 

There is, however, one of the noblest traits of human 
nature, not so conspicuous as the others, which has, 
perhaps, not been so well known, and I will therefore 
take the liberty of simply referring to it, from the 
opportunities which I myself had of observing him. 
His sense of justice, of right, was, I think, more keen, 
more acute, and his desire to see wrongs righted more 
earnest than that of any other man I ever knew. Mis- 
takes in so great an office as his cannot always be 
avoided by the greatest and keenest foresight, and 
human nature is much too wont to say, " Well, it is 
past ; we cannot help it ; I did not know it ; let it go.' 
Not so William McKinley. He would say, without the 



26 



slightest desire to belittle the mistake, " Is there no 
way in which it can be corrected? I will gladly 
execute any plan which can be devised by which the 
wrong can be righted." His sense of justice was as 
keen and strong as his other great and noble qualities, 
and it is that which completed the structure which we 
call, and justly call, the perfect man. 



a^. g^. Sayma^t^r |i»«fe ^. faffeett, late m. ^. 1. 

Commander and Companions, we met here last 
spring and said good-bye to each other, looking 
forward to the pleasures of vacation and of dis- 
tance from the city during the summer, and look- 
ing forward, also, with genuine pleasure to coming 
here at the opening meeting and grasping hands fra- 
ternally and with affection. How little did anyone 
suspect at that meeting that this fii*st meeting of the 
series would be devoted, as it is here to-night, to a sub- 
ject in which our hearts well up with grief ! Truly, 
" God moves in a mysterious way. His wonders to 
perform." 

We must look through all the sadness and all the 
grief and all the trouble, and see the meaning behind. 
As Companion Hawley said at the beginning, it is easy 
to speak of William McKinley. You have got to 
speak right out of your heart, and " tell you that 
which you yourselves do know," and you speak into 
other men's hearts who have the same feeling. It is 
nothing new you tell, and it meets with a quick 
response, because fortunately here, in this audience at 
least, we all knew William McKinley. 



'2^ 



And one of the wonderful characteristics of the 
man is that God gave him opportunity to come into 
personal contact and into affectionate relations with a 
larger number of his countrymen and countrywomen, 
probably than any other American who ever lived. 
And that was not simply because he was President of 
the United States, but because he had a heart that went 
out to every citizen of the United States, high or low. 

We like, when we try to dwell in memory on the 
character — and that is what lives of a man after the 
body has passed away — we like to try and analyze 
that character and see if we can find some one salient 
point that seems to typify the man. When we come 
to apply this process to William McKinley I think 
we shall find that if there was one quality he exhibited 
above all others it was sincerity. 

I was thinking this over this afternoon, and walking 
in company with my chief. Secretary Long, who was 
very dear, I know, to President McKinley. I spoke 
to him of it, and 1 asked him if it were not so, that 
there were two characteristics of our late President 
which were very marked — the one simplicity and the 
other sincerity. " Yes," said the Secretary to me, " but 
are not those two the same thing?" I reflected a 
moment and I replied "Yes." It is the sincere man 



29 



who is simple — simple in his character and simple in 
the expression of that character to others. And he 
told me — and he had a right to tell me because of his 
friendship with the President, for no man knew him 
better — that I was right in attributing to him as a 
predominating trait that most excellent quality of sin- 
cerity. 

Now, William McKinley — and many of you here 
knew him as well, and some of you better, than I — 
had this peculiar habit: When you went to him, 
aside from business, and even on business, you found 
very quickly that he was turning the subject from 
himself to you. Almost the first question he put to 
you was regarding yourself and your dearest interests ; 
and that was spontaneous and natural with him, 
because he was a man who found his happiness in 
making others happy. 

I think we have never had in public life a man who 
exemplified that trait as President McKinley did. 
And this curious result has followed : I think if you 
talk about President McKinley to any man who knew 
him, that man will, you shall find, ventui'e to believe 
that somehow the President was a little closer to him 
than to anybody else ; and I think he impressed you, 
when you were with him, with that feeling. It was 



30 



not an illusion ; it was born of the relations which 
existed at that time between you and him ; he had so 
loving a heart. 

Now this is not mere sentiment, I think. I know it 
is true and genuine and real ; and that very thing, it 
seems to me, in the character of William McKinley, is 
bequeathed to his countrymen as a precious legacy, 
that will be fruitful of good to this country for years 
and years to come. 

Just think of the influence, upon the country at 
large, of the death scene, which has been spoken of so 
feelingly by those who have preceded me. The last 
words, or almost the last words, of that man were 
" Good-bye " — not that alone — " Good-bye all ! " 
That little word; how significant! It took in every- 
body, and everybody in the land felt that he was 
thought of by the President in that supreme moment. 

The other day, as I was passing near the White 
House, I saw one of the faithful attendants coming 
along, grief depicted in his countenance, and I shook 
hands with him for the second time (for I had done it 
only a few days ago) and sympathized with him ; and 
I spoke to him of this, and his face lighted up, and he 
said : " That was the remark that the President made 
to all of us when he left the White House." So I 



31 



infer that it was a common remark with him. But 
how beautiful that sweeping language " all." And 
that was typical of the man's nature. 

I see placed here on these walls most appropriately 
pictures of the three great Americans on whom we shall 
rely in future generations as exemplifying the best traits 
of the American people. How dissimilar, and yet how 
alike are they ! Washington — and the interesting fact 
in regard to Washington is that we to-day know him 
better than our forefathers did. The real Washington 
is depicted to us as he was not to them ; Washington, 
who seems to have been selected by Divine Providence 
to bring this country out of its trials and place upon a 
firm foundation a free people. 

Then Lincoln, that wonderful man with an infinite 
fund of practical sense, yet with a vein of poetry and 
womanly tenderness in him ; a strange mixture, raised 
up at that period ; the only man, probably, who could 
have guided us through those perilous times. And it 
would seem as though Washington and Lincoln had 
exhausted all those qualities of greatness possible to 
Americans as their country's representatives in the 
chair of the Presidency. 

And McKinley. 

But it was the fortune of William McKinley, 



32 



strangely enough (for there were no signs of it when 
he entered u])on his office), to guide this country 
through the perils of another war. He was at the 
head of the Government ; a peril greater than war con- 
fronted this country, for a new departure had come upon 
us. The wisdom and the capacity, the patience and 
the practical good sense that characterized every act 
of his proves that he was the right man in the right 
place, though the time has not, perhaps, come yet 
when we fully understand it. 

Had McKinley living gone out of office, it would 
have been to look back upon a remarkably successful 
and ^vise adminstration. But God willed that it 
should not be thus — that there should be the story of 
his wonderful death. And in generations hence those 
scenes will be rehearsed. Nothing can ever surpass 
the heroism, the Christian fortitude, the thoughtful- 
ness and unselfishness with which William McKinley 
met his fate, and passed from this world to another. 



" Miserere Notis " — (Quartette). 



OF THE 

COMMANDERY OF THE STATE OF NEBRASKA. 

Commander and Companions of the Commandery 
of the District of Columbia : It is with mingled 
feelings of pleasure and of sadness that I meet 
with you to-night; pleasure in seeing again the 
faces so familiar to me, and sadness when I think 
of the memorial occasion which has brought us 
together. 

The Memorial and the addresses which you have 
heard have been of such high character that there 
is but little more to say in the way of eulogium 
upon the great dead. We all knew him; we all 
loved him; and we who were his companions and 
comrades feel deeper reverence for his memory, and 
greater regard, as we recall his delightful personality, 
than any others in a regretful world. 

If one should come out of the nations past, capable 
of telling us personal recollections of Washington, how 
gladly would we hear him; and with what delight 
the elders among us, who had more or less familiar 
acquaintance with the great Lincoln, recall remi- 



34 



niscences of his life and characteristics. We all have, 
and rejoice in, our personal recollections of William 
McKinley. Some who are here served with him 
during the great days of the War from 1861 to 
1865. That was not my fortune, as my military ser- 
vice was in a different Federal Army from that of 
Major McKinley. I was a young lawyer, just 
starting in my profession in Canton, Ohio, where I 
read law, when William McKinley, fresh from the field 
of war, came to that town to embark in the practice of 
the law. He was without acquaintances. He knew no 
one at Canton, If he brought letters of introduction 
I never knew it, and we who were of the younger bar 
of that day, recognizing in him one who had served 
with fair distinction during the civil strife, grasped his 
hand, more in the spirit of comradeship vrith one who 
had served under and followed the flag, than in any 
spirit of that fraternity which charactei'izes the legal 
profession. But it did not take long for us to have 
not only admiration for his lovable qualities but re- 
spect for his lawyerlike ability ; and had he chosen the 
legal profession for his life work, instead of the service 
of his country in a public way, I doubt not that 
William McKinley would have made his mark as a 
great lawyer. 



35 



I spoke of his lovable qualities, and they have been 
referred to appreciatively by others here to-night. He 
was as gentle as a girl. I do not believe that any 
man, even in the heat of a political struggle, hated or 
disliked him. I do not believe that any man, even 
though he may have been suifering from disappointed 
political hopes or expectations, ever had anything but 
affection for McKinley. His spirit was so gentle and 
the kindly elements were so mixed up in him that it 
could not be otherwise. And this is what makes the 
deep damnation of his taking off the unexplainable ; 
because not only those who came in contact with him 
had this affection for him, but those who knew him 
not had like regard. Even the public press, however 
partisan its character, could not but have admiration 
for him, and eulogize the sterling qualities he possessed. 
One can somewhat explain that horrible deed that 
took Lincoln from the country. It was an incident of the 
dreadful time, perhaps the fitting grand climax of that 
struggle of the nation for life. His passing was the 
first step towards reconciliation, for the recoil from the 
horror of it worked for good. One can explain some- 
what the taking off of Garfield at the hands of that 
miserable wretch crazed by his political disappoint- 
ments. But how any man, unless he had in him the 



36 



attributes of a fiend incarnate, could strike down this 
lovable man, is beyond our comprehension or under- 
standing. It is inexplicable. 

The companion who has just spoken refen'ed to 
what should be done with those who preach the doctrine 
of the anarchist, to those who would tear down and not 
build up, and he suggests remedies to reach the evils 
that threaten us. My companions, there are evils 
almost as great, if not fully as great, as that of anarchy. 
It is lamentable and most regrettable that there is per- 
mitted to exist a license of speech that is not freedom 
of speech, a license of the press that is not freedom of 
the press, that preaches the gospel of discontent with 
conditions however desirable, and of contempt for exist- 
ing power. I believe, my companions, that just as 
strongly as the feeling of patriotism urged you in the 
dark days of old to gather together under your coun- 
try's flag, just as strongly that same impulse of patri- 
otism should prompt you not only to frown upon, but 
if possible, to punish the man, be he public speaker or 
be he editor, who preaches such contempt and abuses 
his privileges. This constant attack on those who hold 
place which comes with every election ; this misrepre- 
sentation and abuse of all, for no official is too high to 
escape it ; it reaches the President in the White House, 



37 



the Supreme Court in its chamber, and the Senators 
and Representatives of the United States representing 
the people in their majesty — it reaches them as well as 
the lesser men who are running for county offices, is 
most deplorable. Yes, we read these papers ; we take 
them every morning as a thing of course, with their 
flaming incendiary headlines. Boycott, you say? 
There is the place to boycott. Punish by ostracism 
the man who dares to preach contempt for existing 
power, and punish by boycott the editor who will 
prostitute his press to such base uses as these, produc- 
tive as they are of murder and treason. 

McKinley was a soldier. His record we all know. 
And I think it may be said of him that his career in 
early life as a soldier fitted him to be the acceptable 
Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the 
United States, that he proved to be. He who would 
command must first learn to serve, and William 
McKinley, in those old days, learned to serve and thus 
became fitted to command. Those who came in 
contact with him during the late war vrith Spain 
realize with what appreciation and suggestive wisdom 
he heard the plans as to how the enemy might the 
more speedily and more readily be reached and victory 
secured. He was a wise counsellor in war because he 
was a typical soldier. 



38 



In his capacity as citizen lie left no duty unper- 
formed. As a husband, tender beyond one's power to 
express of that invalid suffering wife, he endeared 
himself not only to every woman, but to every man, 
by his tender care for her in her distress. 

He was a statesman, and I doubt if any man who 
has ever filled the Presidential office so imprinted 
himself upon the legislation of the country as William 
McKinley. I can recall no predecessor, from Washing- 
ton down, of whom of it may be said that he not only 
conceived that which was good, but by reason of his 
long legislative experience brought that conception to 
be an actual living reality. As a law-maker he was 
both theoretical and practical. 

He was a Christian, showing it in his daily walk ; 
gloriously showing it at the time of his death ; meeting 
the end with serene composure and unfaltering trust. 

It is said that he above any other man was the 
ideal American, having the capacity to fulfil every 
duty in public and private life to its utmost require- 
ment. As Companion Hackett spoke of the three 
portraits on yonder wall, enshrined in the flag of our 
country, and draped with the symbols of woe, I could 
not but feel that he was right, and that he who 
decorated this hall rightly placed there the three 



39 



faces looking down upon us in kindly recogni- 
tion— Wasbington the Father, Lincoln the Saviour, 
McKinley the Example. 



^m g^dmiral mWux .^tnravt, m, ^. i. 

Mr. Commander and Companions, in the hush of 
the great sorrow which fell upon the country in the 
death of President McKinley, there was revealed, 
as in a flash, before the eyes of the world, a vision 
of character most beautiful, and of manhood most 
exalted; a vision, so exquisite, of character so pure 
and of manhood so lofty, it electrified the world, and 
everywhere men gazed with reverence upon it, recog- 
nizing in him whom it portrayed one of earth's nobh^st 
spirits, a truly great man, humanity's truest friend. 
Seldom has it been given to any man to accomplish 
so much for his countiy, or to fill so large a place 
in the thoughts, the respect and the affections of 
the world, as fell to the lot of William McKinley. 
As a soldier who risked his life for the saving of 
his country, we honor his memory ; as a statesman, 
under whose wise counsels and strong administra- 
tion this nation was brought to its foremost place 
among the nations of the world, we hold him in 
highest estimation, and rank him among the greatest 
of our Presidents. As a man, genial, sweet-souled, 
unselfish, chivalrous, wise, the world will always 



41 



look upon him as one of the greatest of earth. 
Like Lincoln, he fell a martyr in the hour of his 
greatest glory, to become like him, from thenceforth 
and forevermore, a living and inspiring force in the 
character and history of the American people. 

"One sweetly, solemn thought" — (Solo.) 



Commander and Companions, you give one a hard 
service to perform, after this eloquence, and from 
men wlio knew our martyred comrade ; and yet the 
task left to me may be somewhat important, for I 
wish to draw from the life and death of McKinley 
a few of the great ethical lessons which we may 
learn, and my knowledge of the President and my 
observation of his life and of his character only em- 
phasize these ethical conclusions. 

It is at such times that the greatness of the nation 
is to be found in the strongest light. It is not during 
periods of prosperity, or even of business adversity, 
but when all the people of a great and proud Republic 
are called to mourn the loss of its Chief. 

And what, one may ask, has been gained by our 
sad experience ? I might ask, Mr. Commander, what 
has been lost but the image ? The reality still exists. 
McKinley has gained the influence which no human 
life could maintain. His life is now grafted on the 
Infinite, and will be fruitful as no earthly life can be. 
Everything gains by his life and death. Politics 
gains, and politics is simply the business of the public. 



43 



Politics gains, because a grand life will be studied in 
the truest light — that of its worth ; and all, whether 
friend or foe, must admire the life of McKinley, how- 
ever much they may disagree with his politics. And 
the unwritten features of McKinley's political life will, 
in the future, give a greater gain to political work. 

Political science gains, for his words will be quoted 
and his speeches rehearsed as they would not be were 
he living. The real McKinley we know cannot die. 
Lincoln is still alive, and all men who have carved 
their names into the period which produced them have 
lived. Is any man that was ever fit to live dead? 
We must, to use the language of our other martyred 
comrade, Garfield, "remember always that this life 
is a battle where we struggle on to a beginning, but 
it is in the endless cycles of eternity that our lives 
must be rounded and perfected." 

Public morality gains, for the death of McKinley 
teaches the world anew that political assassinations 
never accomplish the object for which they are under- 
taken, whether the crime is committed by one man 
or is the result of a conspiracy. 

The inevitable laws of justice gain new force, our 
love of fair play is quickened, and all the sources of 
the springs of right-doing are made to give vitalizing 



44 



tone to our actions ; for we honor our own motives 
when we condemn injustice, whether that condemna- 
tion comes through memorial services or through acts 
which restrain the vicious. 

And so the dignity of law and order gains new 
charms, and the nations of the earth will applaud all 
our efforts to preserve law and order, and we shall 
prove ourselves worthy the heritage of the fathers 
by insisting that deeds of violence do not become a 
great people. 

Domestic virtue gains, for we have seen in the life 
of McKinley the sweetest devotion the public has ever 
witnessed. Looking back upon the journey to the 
Pacific coast, we find the Chief Magistrate of the 
nation giving up his plans to devote his time, his 
attention, and his care to his companion in life, and 
his first thought after the attack upon his life was one 
of care for his wife's feelings. The lesson to the 
world which McKinley has taught in the grandeur 
of domestic virtue would entitle him not only to a 
monument, but to an epitaph. 

Diplomacy gains, for American diplomacy has taught 
the world that truth is better than falsehood. The 
splendid action of McKinley in the diplomacy growing 
out of the Spanish War has taught the world a lesson ; 



45 



and our own diplomacy, which had not Vjefore won 
applause or even commendation, is beginning to be the 
key-note of diplomatic effort everywhere. 

And the American soldiery gains. The 19th of 
September, the day on which McKinley's remains 
were given back to his Maker, was the thirty-seventh 
anniversary of Sheridan's great battle of the Opequon. 
Those of you here who stood in the ranks with McKin- 
ley at that time, through your recollection of your 
struggle, become better men. It is the habit of the 
world to condemn war as brutal, but the world will 
always applaud the true, brave soldier, and the bearing 
of McKinley was that of a true, brave soldier. He 
proved it a generation ago. He proved it recently, 
when he extended the hand of friendship to the men 
against whom he fought then. He has proved it again 
by dying as a soldier, in the courage with which he 
met his death and the circumstances attending it. 
American soldiery always gains by the life of a true, 
brave man, who has had the patriotism and the courage 
to fight the battles of his country. 

Grander than all, religion gains. Religion, a Chris- 
tian life, is worth more to-day than it was when the 
President was attacked. One of the great wants of 
the day in every direction is a deeper and more prevail- 



46 



ing, practical religious devotion. The spectacle of the 
greatest man in the land struggling with death and 
yet approaching the end with all the resignation and 
contentment the Christian faith aifords, can have but 
one result ; and as religion begets patriotism, patriotism 
gains by the very loss we are called upon to mourn. 
It is not loss ; it is gain. The righteousness of the 
nation comes to the view of the world, and we are 
again taught that without righteousness no nation can 
stand ; it must underlie all the foundations of the state 
or the state cannot endure. By this test, patriotism 
and religion bind the state to the purest devotion to 
the highest principles — the principles that form the 
basis of the life of our martyred President. 

In the grandest outburst of sympathy and the 
beautiful religious sentiment which the death of 
McKinley has brought into activity, we see the 
strength of the stnicture our fathers built, and in 
the beams from the cross of our martyr we see the 
future glory of the temple of the Republic. 

Basking in this light, we cannot fear for the cause 
of humanity as symbolized by our institutions. Par- 
ties may die, parties may commit wrong, the govern- 
ment may be changed by the supreme will of the 
people, but the cause of humanity will not die so long 



47 



as righteous conduct constitutes the God-ordained 
platform upon which popular sovereignty must stand. 
Keep the God-idea of national completeness at the 
head of our patriotic resolutions ; let the children learn 
the lessons of such sorrows as we have passed through ; 
let the youth take the life of McKinley into their lives, 
and learn by studying him the value of consecrated 
effort allied to strong religious convictions, and that 
success means a good and pure life lived well in the 
chosen path, whatever it may be. 

And we are taught another lesson, because by the 
death of President McKinley we come to a parting of 
the ways, and it is of supreme interest for us, because 
in all human probability he is the last President to 
come from the ranks of those who participated in the 
Civil War. From Lincoln to McKinley, with one 
exception, all were soldiers ; but all brought forward 
the recollections of the great struggle. Now comes 
the parting of the ways — a new generation, a new 
century of men. 

On the Isthmus of Darien, it is said, there is at one 
point a neck of land so narrow that at times the 
listener can catch the roar of the two oceans. So we 
are standing between the old and the new, for at the 
close of a most marvelous century we look with intense 
curiosity to the unfolding of the new era. This is 



48 



narrow ground, and we catch the receding echoes of 
the past while we listen to the approaching sounds of 
the future. We are standing on an isthmus, and we 
hear the roar of the oceans, but let us not be confused 
and take the receding wave for the oncoming, but be 
ready to meet the oncoming wave, even if it be a tidal 
wave of change. The life of McKinley is the receding 
wave, which is now almost a ripple, of the events 
following 1861, and his life is a grand, sweet bene- 
diction on the old way. The new man that comes in 
will have the prayers of the nation with him, for he 
represents the oncoming wave of youth, of a new 
generation, of a new century. Let McKinley's death 
be sanctified for the good of the whole, and let us feel 
that the real McKinley lives and represents all the 
best that is in the immediate past. Rich we were 
in the possession ; richer we are in the depth of our 
grief by the very memories his name will arouse, and 
from the glad knowledge that he will live with 
Washington and with Lincoln. Out of the nation's 
Gethsemane the people will come purified from the 
holy incense arising from their own altars, lighted by 
the fires of their own patriotism, and which they will 
keep burning in the true spirit of religion, and of devo- 
tion to the principle of divine supremacy in the rule 
of the nations of the earth. 



Commander and Companions: Another star has 
fallen below the political horizon, and the shadows 
of evening still hover over a nation that was illumined 
by its brilliancy. 

William McKinley, our noble Chief Magistrate, our 
beloved Companion, is no more. 

Suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, he has been 
called before the Great White Throne — has been wel- 
comed with those glowing words, " Well done, thou good 
and faithful servant : thou hast been faithful over a 
few things, I will make thee ruler over many things : 
enter thou into the joy of thy Lord ; " and to-day he is 
among that glorious band of saints which surrounds 
the Redeemer's throne. 

When Joshua, the great high priest of the Lord, the 
heroic leader of the legions of the Israelites, defied 
the cohorts of the five kings of the Amorites who had 
combined to destroy the inhabitants of Gibeon because 
they had made peace with his people, he commanded 
the sun and the moon to stand still while he annihi- 
lated his enemies and they obeyed him ; and we are 
told in Holy Writ that " there was no day like that 
before or after it.'' 



50 



But while the spirit of our immortal President was 
winging its flight to the realms of everlasting happi- 
ness, and his body was being consigned to its last 
earthly resting-place at the home of his young man- 
hood, the American people, for the first time in the 
histoiy of the new Avorld, commanded the wheels of 
commerce to stand still, suspended the business of 
tlie nation, closed the instruments that permit the 
lightning's power to control the myriad of wires that 
cover our beloved land, and with bowed head and 
bended knee prayed for Divine help in their hour of 
deepest sorrow. 

It was my good fortune to have been called before 
our knightly chieftain on a number of occasions during 
his first administration, a period which redounded so 
grandly to the glory of the nation, to have listened to 
his counsel and advice, and to have drawn inspiration 
from his words of wisdom. 

Three of these interviews impressed me most forci- 
bly ; the first was when I appeared before the President 
and his cabinet after the destruction of the fleets of 
Spain by our gallant Navy at Manila and Santiago, 
and when the interests of our commerce demanded the 
removal of the submarine mines from our harbors. 

I had been before this august body upon a previous 



51 



occasion — had explained the character and method of 
manipulating these mines — and had received the utmost 
courtesy. At this interview I was asked the direct 
question, "Do you recommend the removal of the 
mines ? " 

The press of the country at this period was filled 
with rumors of complications and possible war with 
Germany, and my mind at once reverted to these 
rumors. 

I described the location and condition of the mines 
which protected our harbors, not contact mines, but 
those manipulated by electric power from the shore — 
peaceful to our friends, but terrible to our enemies. 
Deeply interested in my subject, I closed by saying 
that so far as Spain was concerned the destruction of 
her fleets rendered her powerless to damage our sea- 
coast cities, and that the mines might be removed at 
once; but I added, '' if, Mr. President, there are inter- 
national complications with other European powers 
that forebode danger to the nation, a subject with 
which you are familiar and I am ignorant, I earnestly 
recommend that the mines shall remain intact for the 
present." 

With that beautiful smile and courtly bearing for 
which he was so noted he quickly said, " General 
you can remove the mines." 



It was a relief to know that our friends of the press 
were in error so far as war with Germany was concerned. 

Last autumn I visited Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 
connection with the engineering operations in progress 
for the improvement of its harbor and with the pro- 
posed magnificent park which is to cover the area 
fought over by the Union troops under the immortal 
General Grant and the Confederate troops under Gen- 
eral Pemberton. 

It was my iii'st visit since our forces had captured 
that city and opened the great Mississippi river, from 
the Mexican sea to the Falls of St. Anthony, to the 
commerce of the nation. 

At a camp-fire of the blue and the gray, the evening 
after my arrival, the toast of "The Old Flag and 
Sound Money " was answered by a soldier of the lost 
cause. His tribute to our first martyred President, 
Abraham Lincoln, was sublime, while that to the flag 
of the nation scintillated with patriotism and devotion 
to the stars and stripes. His address was received with 
unbounded enthusiasm, and was followed by others of 
a like character from soldiers of the South w^ho were 
present. 

Upon my return to Washington, I descnbed the 
scene to our beloved President, and told him of the 



5a 



wondrous change in the public sentiment at Vicksburg 
since the terrible conflict which ended in the sur- 
render of that great stronghold of the Confederacy. He 
listened to me with the deepest interest, and when I 
had finished my story arose to his feet, and raising 
his right hand, his face uplifted towards the eternal 
throne, exclaimed, " God reigns. General Wilson." 

Once again it was my privilege to meet him when he 
expressed himself in a single sentence that history 
will transmit to generations yet unborn, in words 
never to be forgotten. 

The subject under consideration was one near and 
dear to him — the Memorial Bridge which is to unite 
the National Capital with the last resting-place on 
earth of a host of the immortal heroes who died in the 
defence of the Nation. I wanted a name for that 
bridge which would be acceptable to every American. 
I wish that interview could have been recorded. I 
wish the people of our country could have heard his 
expressions of love and admiration for those whose 
bodies rest on the hillside and amid the groves at 
Arlington. Rising, as he was wont to do when deeply 
interested in a subject, he raised his right, hand and, 
sublime in his eloquence, said, " General, let it be a 
monument to American patriotism." 



54 



Such it must be, such it will be ; while at its 
d^bouche iu the Capital of the nation must rise a 
magnificent arch, modelled after the vault of Heaven, 
to this noblest of modern heroes, this knightly soldier, 
statesman, patriot and Christian gentleman, this lover 
of his country and of his home, this model husband, 
faithful unto death, this President under whose admin- 
istration the American Republic has suddenly leaped 
forward and planted its flag in the forefront of the 
nations of the world. 

Let the McKinley arch ])e erected. Let the great 
bridge be built as a memorial to American patriotism ; 
and let a grand boulevard be constructed uniting the 
National Capital with the last resting-place on earth 
of those who gave up their lives in the defence of the 
unity of the Republic, and with the tomb of the 
immortal Washington, at Mount Vernon. 

Of William McKinley it could well be said, " His 
life was gentle ; and the elements so mixed in him, that 
nature might stand up and say to all the world, ' This 
was a man / ' " 

Let the youths of the nation, who are now serving 
their squirehood in the strife with the world for those 
honors which come to true, noble manhood, bow their 
heads and bend their knees before the King of kings, 



55 



the Lord God of hosts, and humbly pray that they 
may be endowed with the loyalty, the valor, the states- 
manship, the nobility of character, the love of country 
and of his fellow-man, of this true patriot who has been 
taken from us, whose memory will be revered, whose 
character will be an example for future generations so 
long as the American flag shall wave over a united 
country, the emblem of civil and religious liberty. 



mmn Samuel .§. guicktt^, m. ^. f . 

The greatest of tlie philosopliers now living, who 
speaks our tongue, has said, "The power which 
the universe manifests to us is utterly inexplicable." 
We see affirmation of this saying in the life-giving 
sun as well as in the devouring darkness of the 
storm ; we feel it as w^e laugh and are glad and 
whilst we weep and are comfortless. We stand 
aside from the avalanche and are saved ; we step 
on the pebble and fall to our death ; we face the 
enemy in open battle and live ; the assassin lifts 
his hand and tlie end has come. "7? is His way,''^ 
said the dying President. We who remain, recalling 
the useful and beautiful past of our companion, and 
the future of need and promise for his country which 
to our understanding it should have been his to supply, 
can only say with the philosopher it "is utterly 
inexplicable." 

The hope which " springs eternal in the human 
breast " looks through eyes which are not mortal ; 
what its fruition may be is for eternity to tell. The 
vision of those who remain, if calling their own lives 



57 



to the judgaient, is only retrospect ; if dealing with 
their departed fellows it is the narrow space which 
separates the cradle and the grave. There is a larger 
vision, human but not individual. It also looks back- 
ward. We call it history. It rescues from oblivion 
here and there a name, and on that fulcrum frames 
the epitaph of that myriad of nameless ones who made 
the story of their age. 

We are not oblivious of the great happenings which 
have marked the advance or retreat of the races from 
which we sprung ; but, as a people, we know only, as 
a country, our half of the American continent and the 
little more than a century within which we have exer- 
cised the national life. Until past the middle of the 
present year there were but two names which in our 
history stood for epochs, and whose epitaphs were 
written for and by the people from whom they sprung, 
from whom the\ received their mission and their 
inspiration, and at whose bidding they wrought the 
deeds which made them and their age immortal. You 
know these names and their work. Each of them 
gentle of heart, loving his kind, seeing in every man 
a brother, yet wrought out his mission with the sword. 

I do not assert that when our companion fell at 
Buffalo another epoch-making name had passed into 



58 



our history, so that thenceforward, on the roll of fame, 
that of McKinley shall follow that of Lincoln, as by 
universal acclaim the man of Illinois stands next in 
honor to the father of his country. The account is not 
made up ; the forces are yet in motion toward the ends 
which, when reached, must form the basis of our own 
and the world's judgment in that regard. I believe 
that in due time that judgment will canonize an Amer- 
ican trinity in which the name of William McKinley 
will appear. 

The aspirations and ambitions of an age must have 
for their product a means of expression and a fitting 
hand for their execution. Lacking these, the noblest 
impulses and the mightiest purposes are but dreams. 
The clock of destiny strikes a conquering note only 
when the proper man and hour appear. The pilot 
may wreck the ship in sight of the port which she had 
almost i-eached in spite of stress and storm. 

It fell to the lot of the late President to command 
in that momentous period in our history when the 
national consciousness awoke to the realization of its 
power, its duty and its destiny. 

To establish a government on foundations good 
enough for peace and prosperity at home, and strong 
enuuiili for defence as^ainst the ent-my, was the task of 



59 



Washington and those who wrought with him. Alive 
to the fact that the powers of the earth, whose united 
strength was great in comparison with that of the 
infant Republic, must, at heart, be counted either as 
strangers or enemies, because of the reproach our form 
of government cast upon their own, our ambitions and 
anxieties were turned in upon ourselves. We left to 
the indefinite future the world tasks, if such there 
might be, that should fall to our lot for solution. 

To preserve so much of land and power and liberty 
as had been achieved, and to free it from reproach, 
was the present and mighty task of the liberator Pres- 
ident. It was so performed that they who upheld his 
steadfast hands, nor looked beyond the very hour of 
consummation, might well rejoice, as with full hearts 
they did, on that one-day's ingathering. But the 
result of that struggle had in it the " promise and 
potency " of greater things for the nation, to happen 
within the lifetime of thousands of those who had 
fought out the issue in the field or were lookers-on in 
the conflict. There was henceforward one light of 
liberty to guide the feet of all ; one road to wealth on 
which no clank of fetters would be heard; one country 
and one destiny for all ; one sun of hope and ambition 
shining with equal warmth in the door of the cabin 



60 



and the mansion, whether in mountain-glen or plain, 
whether on lake, or gulf, or ocean. And out of this 
our eyes have seen the standing forth, on the wilder- 
ness plain of a hundred years ago, the premier nation 
of the civilized world. This great result was not 
wrought out within the period of the presidency of 
William McKinley; no elogist would put forth so 
extravagant a claim. It had its culmination within 
that term. The nation's comprehension of its mission, 
the realization of its power, and the sense of its duty 
and its future needs, came in their fullness imder his 
presidency. To him was deputed the task of raising 
the flag of the Republic over alien peoples and, 
whether for weal or woe, linking them and their 
country to our destiny. For doing this duty so laid 
upon him by the great majority of those whose servant 
he was, and for this cause alone, evil was said of him 
by the narrow few whose comprehensions are of 
yesterday. 

One of larger faith and truer vision has said, " Even 
those of our people who are neither readers of history 
nor students of the science of politics are beginning to 
understand that the silent and irresistible law of 
growth, which expands the girdle of the tree, is an 
equally iiTesistiblc law of our national life which 



61 



neither legislators, jurists, nor sentimentalists can sus- 
pend or control/' 

When the bramble complained to the oak that its 
roots interfered with its own and its branches shut 
out its sun the reply was, " I am the oak." 

He did not make the law he executed nor was he 
the epoch in which he stands enshrined ; but no one 
man of the millions who mourned him felt more keenly 
the solemnity of the hour which struck for his country 
when its people placed their sword in his hands, and 
no son of the Republic has in any era of its history 
wielded it more wisely than did he in attaining the 
ends for which it was unsheathed. 

While yet the dew of youth was upon his cheek 
he left the plow in the furrow to arm himself for the 
battle whose fortunes were decisive of all our future. 
In riper years he became the invincible leader of 
those who maintained that system of finance and 
trade which has nourished our people with a fullness 
none others enjoy, laid up a store of wealth beyond 
the dream of the most sanguine, and given initiative 
and a supporting hand to the high aims which domi- 
nate our national life. 

Having thus cared for his own household, by his 



62 



last official utterances, made under the shadow of 
impending fate, he proved his right to a first place 
among those whose helpful vision is as wide as the 
human race. He invoked the spirit of reciprocal 
dealings among the nations, though well knowing 
that out of our great storehouse there was more to 
give than to be received. 

As it was with his great predecessors, so it was 
with him, there was no blemish upon his private char- 
acter which called for the mantle of charity. 

He was very dear to his fellow countrymen, for he 
was in all desirable things one of them. He had a 
home in every heart that was clean, and his footsteps 
would have been a sound of joy at the threshold of 
any door within which the \'irtues of our race find an 
abiding-place. 

His human sympathies led him into the fellowship 
of those fraternal associations which are formed to 
perpetuate the memory of events which should not 
perish and of principles that should not die. He was 
a Brother, a Comrade, and a Companion. 

He loved the book his mother reverently read, and 
prayed the prayer she taught him. If now, at the 
high noon of our history, it were meet, in a land where 



63 

all are equals, and where each is emulous of all in love 
of country, to yet distinguish one as standing some- 
what above, yet for us all, a fitting epitaph would be : 
" William McKinley, 
The American.'''' 

" Doxology. " 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 





013 788 291 7 



GIBSON BROTHERS, 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 



